An Excellent Start to a Promising Week...

Yesterday morning at 9:15 am, I met my SIL Leigh halfway between her house and ours so that Jordan could go to camp with their student group.

We were at James and Leigh's house all weekend. Emma and JW had spent last week there attending VBS, and the rest of the kids and I drove in Friday night to spend the weekend. The plan was to pick up the latter two and drop off Abbee and a niece who were planning on attending camp. Jordan had opted out of camp for reasons that really don't matter at this point, but changed her mind ON SUNDAY.

That is why we left their house Sunday evening, and returned halfway Monday morning with JP all packed up!

Around 6:30 PM, I received a text message that left me scrambling to find someone to watch the littles as it was looking as though more driving was in my future. A call around 7:30 from James confirmed my suspicions.

At 8:00 PM, I was headed to the campgrounds to PICK JORDAN BACK UP, after receiving word from the camp nurse that JP had been with her all afternoon running fever, feeling nauseated, and having severe abdominal pain. The nurse was willing to let her wait it out until morning, but was slightly concerned that Jordan was having an appendicitis attack. So, with my super amazing friend Jenny (who volunteered to go with me), I was headed south trying to decide if when I got her, I should bring her home or to the hospital.

At 11:15 PM, we walked into the ER as had been decided after about 50 phone calls from Wes who was simultaneously consulting the Google while calling at 2 minute intervals to get a clear description of Jordan's symptoms and pain.

Around midnight, the nurse informed us that the Dr. would most likely want a stomach x-ray to rule out constipation (the apparent most common cause of abdominal pain in children!) and also a pregnancy test to rule out pregnancy (which is now standard procedure in females over the age of TEN who are complaining of stomach pain. Yes, you read that correctly!) She added that it shouldn't take long since they weren't very busy and felt as though the Dr. would be in very shortly.

At that point, my gut told me that I should put her clothes back on her and take her home because, I could rule out constipation by the fact that she had spent the entire day having diarrhea and I could rule out pregnancy by many other facts that I won't articulate here!

Unfortunately, I was still slightly convinced by the Google research and the well-intentioned camp nurse that appendicitis was still a possibility, and you don't want to ere on the side of error on that one.

Around 2:00 AM or so, the doctor made an appearance and ordered some blood work and an IV to be administered over the course of the next hour with a possible second bag to follow depending on how JP's vitals responded to the first bag.

And, that, my friends, is why I crawled into bed at 4:00 AM with the peace of mind that can only come from a $200 co-pay and 4 1/2 hours in the ER.

Jordan's diagnosis: stomach flu along with dehydration.

The very best part of the entire story is something I imagine went down like this:

Jordan: "Hey, Abbee! I've had the squirts all morning and I think I'm about to puke... here... want my hotdog?"

Abbee: "ABSOLUTELY!!"

Jordan: "This slush is making me feel a little nauseated too... you want it?"

Abbee: "Heck Yeah!!"

I'm going to get Wes to consult the Google on the incubation time for the stomach flu. Unless the fact that Abbee will eat absolutely anything that's been dropped on the ground has given her a stomach of steel, I have a feeling I'll be on the road again soon!